CBS Local — Local churchgoers in South Carolina witnessed a disturbing incident as a young woman gouged out her own eyes outside of their building.

“It was terrible what I witnessed, it really was,” Elizabeth Hiott said, via WCSC. Hiott, who reportedly works at the South Main Chapel and Mercy Center in Anderson, ran outside after horrified onlookers screamed for help when the woman began to gouge out her eyeball.

“It was across the street and I could see blood and could hear her screaming, and I realized something was wrong,” Hiott added. The church worker claims the Feb. 6 incident was so shocking a 911 dispatcher didn’t believe her story at first.

Anderson residents reportedly tried to stop the disturbed 19-year-old but failed in keeping her from tearing out her eye. By the time Anderson County deputies and medics arrived at the scene, the unidentified teen had managed to gouge out both eyeballs and was holding them in her hands.

Hiott told reporters she had seen the woman in the Anderson church occasionally before the gory incident. The teen was airlifted to a local hospital for treatment and will reportedly be tested to see if drugs played a role in the horrific act.